Over the past two weekends, Aim2Keap and Enamel Art Space opened the doors for “Stone Love,” a small but impressive exhibit by Brooklyn-based artist Kenji Hirata, originally from Nagasaki, Japan. The exhibition included works of acrylic and watercolor on paper and a few on canvas as well.
When I walked into the gallery last Friday, I was met by three walls of Hirata’s art and two members of Aim2Keap, Marz Yamaguchi and Scott Carey, who also happen to be co-owners of the south city shop, Sump Coffee.
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
As I asked about the exhibit, the two filled me in on Hirata, Enamel’s newness—the gallery has only been open for about six months—and the also-newish Aim2Keap’s purpose and goals.
“These works are new for Kenji, in that they’re acrylics on watercolor paper, and that’s the first time he’s done that,” Carey explained of a colorful painting that vaguely reminded me of Star Trek. “He usually uses acrylics, but on canvas,” Yamaguchi added.
Yamaguchi and her sister, Kiku, are co-founders of Aim2Keap, a multi-disciplinary arts organization dedicated to discovering new artists and showcasing project-based artwork. The sisters have taken on the responsibility of bringing innovative artists to St. Louis and curating their shows—in this case, Hirata’s. Kiku, who is also based in Brooklyn, did a show with Hirata in the past and fell in love with his work. Marz and Kiku knew they had to find him the space for a local show, and introduce St. Louis to his striking, cyberpunk-inspired artwork. The sisters also put together a video that functions as a digital studio visit, which can be found on their website, aim2keap.com (the video was recently featured on Juxtapoz magazine’s blog, too, no small thing).
“That’s the kind of thing we’re interested in doing,” Marz explains of the exhibit. “We’re not artist reps, we’re not a gallery, but we want to get artists out here. We’d like to grab artists that we like, or that we come across, and see if they’d be interested in showing their work. We’re also hoping to find new spaces. This is Enamel’s studio, so it’s not always available to us.” (Enamel is the project of artists Kristin Fleischmann and Katie McCullough, who moved into the building last June, first intending it as studio space; the pair have hosted two exhibitions, including “Stone Love,” and a solo show by St. Louis artist Angela Malchionno. “There is no set exhibition schedule at the moment, but [we] plan to have shows every few months,” Fleishman writes by email. “We started Enamel as an offering to the Tower Grove neighborhood and because we love art and sharing it with others.”)
Though Marz and her sister don’t have a particular artist lined up for their next show, they have hopes of working with Raleigh, N.C.-based fiber/installation artist, Gabrielle Duggan.
“We’d need more of an industrial space,” Marz says. “We saw her at the Governor’s Island Art Fair, so it was in an abandoned setting and it was really, really nice, but we don’t know. We’d just be cold-calling her to see if she was interested. That’s the kind of thing we’re looking for. Not just art-on-the-wall, but installations and things like that.”
The coffee shop owners display local artwork in their own shop, and are even considering opening a gallery above the shop.
“I think in building a city, you have to have not just the foundations, but the cultural aspects of it,” Carey explains. “I think encouraging new artists is part of contributing, enriching and reseeding that ground with this subject matter here in St. Louis.”
Marz nods and adds, “It’s important to find people you might not see here, to add a new voice to the landscape.”
“Stone Love,” can be viewed online through March 23 at aim2keap.com. Enamel Art Space is located at 3123 Morgan Ford; for information, go to enamelartspace.com.
